The Last Judgment from Les Sept Articles de la Foi by Jean Chappuis

Description

In this powerful image, Christ elevates the chosen, assisted by angels, while demons drag the damned toward hell. Jean Chapuis's 14th-century poem The Seven Articles of Faith explores the moral implications of Christ's birth, baptism, death, descent into hell, resurrection, ascension, and second coming. Treated like a small panel painting rather than a decorated page, this image is characteristic of an accomplished illuminator called the Maitre François in its carefully rendered expressions and delicate use of minute stippling.

Provenance

Lord Stuart de Rothesay; sold, Sotheby's, London, May 1855, lot 2353. Sold, Sotheby's, London, February 1872, lot 508. Sold, Sotheby's, London, June 16, 1897, lot 550, to Robson; sold, Sotheby's, London, February 8, 1906, lot 247, to Sir Sydney Cockerell; sold, Sotheby's, London, April 1957, lot 15 to the Art Institute.

The Last Judgment from Les Sept Articles de la Foi by Jean Chappuis

Egregius Pictor Franciscus

c. 1470

Accession Number

5571

Medium

Manuscript cutting in tempera and gold leaf, and letter bâtarde inscriptions in brownish-black ink, unruled, with decorated initial, on parchment

Dimensions

23.7 × 17.2 cm (9 3/8 × 6 13/16 in.)

Classification

tempera

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Ada Turnbull Hertle Fund